A free expansion is in the works for FTL: Faster Than Light which will be
released for the throwback space strategy game next year along with a new
version of the game that will work on iPads and iPad. The
FTL: Faster Than Light website
offers this trailer and the following
details:

We’ve been working hard over the summer and are excited to
finally officially announce a free expansion, FTL: Advanced Edition! FTL: AE is
a huge content addition that includes new weapons, drones, augments, systems,
enemies, and more. Here are some details on just a few of the additions visible
in the trailer:

Mind Control System: Temporarily turn enemies into
allies. Force a boarder to repair the damage they just did, or have the
enemy pilot sabotage their own helm.

Hacking System: Lockdown and disrupt enemy
systems. Unique effects for each system, ranging from forcing a teleporter
remove boarders to making the medbay damage instead of heal.

New Sector and Events: Our writer Tom Jubert has
returned along with special guest writer Chris Avellone (of Planescape
fame), who managed to find some time for us between his work on Project
Eternity and Wasteland 2. They’ve been helping us add a new sector and
scatter new events throughout the rest of the game.

New Weapons and Effects: Many new weapons that
take advantage of new mechanics: overcharging to increase the number of
volleys, stun effects to freeze crew, and area effect targeting, to name a
few.

And more systems, drones, augments, enemy ships,
enemy layouts, and hostile environments. All of which we’ll be sure to talk
about more in the coming weeks!

In addition to new content, we’ve continued to polish FTL and add some of the
most requested small features. As a few examples: you’ll be able to save your
crew positions and send them back to battle-stations, save and quit during
combat, and find more items for purchase in stores.

For the purists out there, FTL vanilla will still be available. All of the new
content can be disabled from within the hangar before starting a new
game.

So, it depends on your crew whether you should board those spacecrafts? Okay, my bad, didn't know this. When exactly does the game teach you this? Played almost through and never got that tip/tutorial by the game.

Being an indie game, there's not really a tutorial. I lost my first several games just figuring things out. But once you understand how to manage your ship, what weapons to buy for your strategy (destroy, disable, board & capture, etc.), and which crew races have which abilities, etc., it's really a deep tactical game. I hate 8 bit graphics, but love the game despite them.

Yes, sometimes there are situations about which you can do nothing and thus will lose the game. But many of my losses are learning experiences that improve my gameplay. And there's an inherent challenge to trying to beat the boss ship even if you only could only find ion cannons and heavy lasers instead of pulse lasers and a cloaking device. You always feel an accomplishment winning the game, since winning is not a fait accompli.

Random encounters always make you balance the risk and the reward. How badly do I need the scrap that I'm willing to risk a crewmember?

The biggest flaw in the game, in my opinion, is your second to last sentence. If you only have ion cannons and heavy lasers you have 0 chance against the final boss. Pulse lasers are the key to his second phase. If you can shoot out 5 or 6 pulse laser shots you can take that ship, regardless of your other loadout. If not, you're doomed. I suppose you could still do it with the right combination of numerous ion cannons (I'm not much of an ion cannon fan) and boarding crews, but generally I feel that either missiles or pulse lasers are the secret to the game, and the second phase boss renders missiles useless.

I've put something like 60 or so hours into this game, probably more, and won it many times (mostly on easy, only a few times on normal. I find normal much less fun.) Every victory has been with a major pulse laser ship. I've had really powerful ships without pulse lasers get to the second phase without ever really being touched throughout the entire game and just get decimated.